NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It was a jackpot surprise for a Queens pre-school teacher after one of several lottery tickets she purchased nearly a year ago, turned out to be a big winner — $1 million to be exact.

The find turned out to be a dream come true for the single mother off two, who lives in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Lolymary Questel didn’t want to appear on camera, but spoke with CBS 2’s John Slattery from inside her apartment.

She had three tickets in her purse and decided to check them after they were almost a year old.

“I was looking through the bag and found a few tickets,” she told Slattery. “I checked them and I found the winning one…the lucky one.”